Happy Canada Day! // I Am Chinese-Canadian!
I am Canadian.
My parents are Canadian.
My grandmothers were Canadian.
I am Chinese.
My parents are Chinese.
My grandmothers were Chinese.
My nationality is Canadian. I have the right to vote in our elections.
My ethnicity is Chinese. I have a shared heritage with other Chinese.
My "race" is East Asian. Race is a social construct with no scientific basis, but we're stuck with for now, so please don't tell me that you "don't see race".
I was born in Toronto, which makes me a Canadian citizen.
My mother was born in the mountains of the New Territories, Hong Kong, which made her a British citizen.
My father was born in farm country in Guangzhou, which made him a Chinese citizen.
I spell colour and neighbour with a "u". I have epicanthal folds. I eat French fries with gravy and cheese curds. I have a Chinese name and an English name. I studied music at RCM. I was a Girl Guide. I eat in Chinatown almost every Sunday. I use chopsticks. I wear a toque/ tuque in the winter. I don't watch sports, but I cheer for Toronto out of loyalty. I have cousins in three different provinces. I can tell you the meaning of, "I can smell burnt toast." I've forgotten my high school French. I've forgotten most of the Cantonese I learned as a kid, too.
Canadians describe ourselves as a mosaic, versus the melting pot of the United States. I think it's a wonderful ideal, one we sometimes fail to live up to. I've had white Canadians tell me that we don't have problems with racism. That's crap. We are not less racist than our neighbour to the south. Consider the way we've historically treated, and currently treat, Aboriginal peoples, for a start. Our problems may not be exactly the same, but we have nothing to be smug about. We have stains on our past. We continue to make mistakes.
Still, we like to believe we're a multicultural society, that we respect diversity. It's part of our national identity.
My closest friends from grades 6-10 were a mixed bag of girls: Chinese evangelical Christian, Japanese Buddhist immigrant, Indian Sikh, Pakistani Muslim immigrant, Indian-Trinidadian, Hungarian Catholic immigrant, one white girl with possibly Native American ancestry, and two white girls who were English/Scots/Irish mix. Looking back on our group, I realise that we were lucky. Even though we didn't always understand each other's backgrounds and traditions, we were at least exposed to them and knew them to be normal. Different, but normal. And we were all Canadian.
I've lost touch with these old friends. My (offline) social circle these days is almost entirely Chinese. My closest friends from high school, the only ones I still keep in touch with, are all Caucasian (though one is a Czech immigrant). But I've also found diversity online, diversity in regards to more than just race, and listening and learning and discussing with all of you has made me more complex, more complete.
I'm learning to embrace the fact that I'm Chinese, when as kids we joked about being "white-washed" or "bananas". I struggle with my faith and Christian upbringing in new ways, without that struggle detracting from my love for God. I now define myself as bisexual. I want to be a better feminist, a better ally. I've come to accept the term "writer". I'm a fangirl.
Some people believe that we should only be one thing: Canadian. (Actually, she thinks we should just be American, but since I was never her audience, ignoring her is easy.) Some people think we need to get rid of hyphens because they detract from the purity of our nationality, or whatever.
That's crap. Every new identity doesn't make me less Canadian--it makes me more. It makes being Canadian a richer, fuller, more complicated experience. And if Canada is a mosaic, then so am I.
I want to frame this line from
rm's post, hyphenated me:
That's the funny thing about people, they're pretty much the same wherever you go, which is why I get a little bit cranky when people start talking about "The American Dream" like no one ever looked up at the stars or decided whoever dies with the most toys wins before Europeans got to this chunk of this continent.
Look, I'm Canadian, getting annoyed with the U.S. is practically a national past-time. But this particular saying boils my blood more than most, and it's really encouraging to hear a U.S. citizen also criticising "The American Dream". IMHO, it is one of the most arrogant, most alienating concepts I've ever come across--mostly because so many Americans actually buy into it! As if being born in the U.S. meant you were granted special powers of ambition! Hard work! Perseverance! Boot-strap pulling!
Dude, my paternal great-grandfather crossed the Pacific Ocean to Canada to become a railway worker. When he was done, he went home to China. His daughter, my grandmother, was an incredibly industrious woman, a poor farmer who foraged in the fields when food was scarce. She finished grade 6, then stayed home to be mother to her younger siblings, then had two children of her own. Became widowed before my father was born. She moved to Hong Kong to work, got my father into a top-rated Catholic school, got him to Canada in time for grade 12, and then moved here herself, working until she hurt her leg and moved in with us. My maternal grandmother was just as smart and hard-working. She was better educated--her family had been quite wealthy before her father lost it gambling and on opium. (Stereotype! But in this case true.) She was a school teacher, and made sure all four of her kids finished high school (a British Christian missionary school). Three of her kids finished college with science degrees.
I have no idea what my grandmothers dreamed about, one in Communist China, the other in British-ruled Hong Kong. I horribly regret that I didn't talk to them more, ask them for stories while they were still alive. But I know, I have to assume, that they worked as hard as they did because they wanted a better life for their children. They were lucky and had family to help them immigrate and assimilate, the way my cousins had us. Sponsors are important. Social services are important. Legislation is important.
Boot-strap pulling only gets you so far.
Canada is the country my family choose to emigrate to, and I love it for that reason alone. I think Canada is the best country in the world. Not because it is perfect, or has gold stars for quality of life or universal health care or adult literacy--though I'm glad for those things, don't get me wrong--but because it is mine. Because it is ours. Because my mom moved here from California, and my dad moved here from Hong Kong, and they both chose Toronto to make their home.
This is our home, as much as it's yours. The fact that my cousins speak very little English does not mean they are less Canadian than you. The fact that you can trace your family back four hundred years does not make you more Canadian than me. (If you can trace your family back four thousand years, then yeah, okay--this land is arguably more yours than mine.)
I guess my whole point in writing this is to refute the notion that hyphenating means I'm less committed to being Canadian than someone who doesn't hyphenate. "Chinese-Canadian" doesn't make me less of a citizen. Canada belongs to all of us. All of us belong to Canada. Take a look at our passports. Take a look at our communities. These are the streets we walk and the schools we attend and the politicians we vote for (or abstain from voting for, as the case may be).
I'm grateful for my citizenship, by birth and by my parents' choice. For all our flaws as a nation, despite our failings, I'm proud to be Canadian. I'm glad to be Canadian. I think you are too.
To all of you, at home and abroad:
Happy Canada Day!
(Interestingly, I didn't wish anyone on LJ a Happy Canada Day from 2005-2007. I probably didn't think it was a big deal to mention it. To be honest, I don't generally celebrate Canada Day, unless it happens to fall on a weekend and my cousins decide it's a good excuse for a barbecue.)
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comment(s)
My parents are Canadian.
My grandmothers were Canadian.
I am Chinese.
My parents are Chinese.
My grandmothers were Chinese.
My nationality is Canadian. I have the right to vote in our elections.
My ethnicity is Chinese. I have a shared heritage with other Chinese.
My "race" is East Asian. Race is a social construct with no scientific basis, but we're stuck with for now, so please don't tell me that you "don't see race".
I was born in Toronto, which makes me a Canadian citizen.
My mother was born in the mountains of the New Territories, Hong Kong, which made her a British citizen.
My father was born in farm country in Guangzhou, which made him a Chinese citizen.
I spell colour and neighbour with a "u". I have epicanthal folds. I eat French fries with gravy and cheese curds. I have a Chinese name and an English name. I studied music at RCM. I was a Girl Guide. I eat in Chinatown almost every Sunday. I use chopsticks. I wear a toque/ tuque in the winter. I don't watch sports, but I cheer for Toronto out of loyalty. I have cousins in three different provinces. I can tell you the meaning of, "I can smell burnt toast." I've forgotten my high school French. I've forgotten most of the Cantonese I learned as a kid, too.
Canadians describe ourselves as a mosaic, versus the melting pot of the United States. I think it's a wonderful ideal, one we sometimes fail to live up to. I've had white Canadians tell me that we don't have problems with racism. That's crap. We are not less racist than our neighbour to the south. Consider the way we've historically treated, and currently treat, Aboriginal peoples, for a start. Our problems may not be exactly the same, but we have nothing to be smug about. We have stains on our past. We continue to make mistakes.
Still, we like to believe we're a multicultural society, that we respect diversity. It's part of our national identity.
My closest friends from grades 6-10 were a mixed bag of girls: Chinese evangelical Christian, Japanese Buddhist immigrant, Indian Sikh, Pakistani Muslim immigrant, Indian-Trinidadian, Hungarian Catholic immigrant, one white girl with possibly Native American ancestry, and two white girls who were English/Scots/Irish mix. Looking back on our group, I realise that we were lucky. Even though we didn't always understand each other's backgrounds and traditions, we were at least exposed to them and knew them to be normal. Different, but normal. And we were all Canadian.
I've lost touch with these old friends. My (offline) social circle these days is almost entirely Chinese. My closest friends from high school, the only ones I still keep in touch with, are all Caucasian (though one is a Czech immigrant). But I've also found diversity online, diversity in regards to more than just race, and listening and learning and discussing with all of you has made me more complex, more complete.
I'm learning to embrace the fact that I'm Chinese, when as kids we joked about being "white-washed" or "bananas". I struggle with my faith and Christian upbringing in new ways, without that struggle detracting from my love for God. I now define myself as bisexual. I want to be a better feminist, a better ally. I've come to accept the term "writer". I'm a fangirl.
Some people believe that we should only be one thing: Canadian. (Actually, she thinks we should just be American, but since I was never her audience, ignoring her is easy.) Some people think we need to get rid of hyphens because they detract from the purity of our nationality, or whatever.
That's crap. Every new identity doesn't make me less Canadian--it makes me more. It makes being Canadian a richer, fuller, more complicated experience. And if Canada is a mosaic, then so am I.
I want to frame this line from
rm's post, hyphenated me:
That's the funny thing about people, they're pretty much the same wherever you go, which is why I get a little bit cranky when people start talking about "The American Dream" like no one ever looked up at the stars or decided whoever dies with the most toys wins before Europeans got to this chunk of this continent.
Look, I'm Canadian, getting annoyed with the U.S. is practically a national past-time. But this particular saying boils my blood more than most, and it's really encouraging to hear a U.S. citizen also criticising "The American Dream". IMHO, it is one of the most arrogant, most alienating concepts I've ever come across--mostly because so many Americans actually buy into it! As if being born in the U.S. meant you were granted special powers of ambition! Hard work! Perseverance! Boot-strap pulling!
Dude, my paternal great-grandfather crossed the Pacific Ocean to Canada to become a railway worker. When he was done, he went home to China. His daughter, my grandmother, was an incredibly industrious woman, a poor farmer who foraged in the fields when food was scarce. She finished grade 6, then stayed home to be mother to her younger siblings, then had two children of her own. Became widowed before my father was born. She moved to Hong Kong to work, got my father into a top-rated Catholic school, got him to Canada in time for grade 12, and then moved here herself, working until she hurt her leg and moved in with us. My maternal grandmother was just as smart and hard-working. She was better educated--her family had been quite wealthy before her father lost it gambling and on opium. (Stereotype! But in this case true.) She was a school teacher, and made sure all four of her kids finished high school (a British Christian missionary school). Three of her kids finished college with science degrees.
I have no idea what my grandmothers dreamed about, one in Communist China, the other in British-ruled Hong Kong. I horribly regret that I didn't talk to them more, ask them for stories while they were still alive. But I know, I have to assume, that they worked as hard as they did because they wanted a better life for their children. They were lucky and had family to help them immigrate and assimilate, the way my cousins had us. Sponsors are important. Social services are important. Legislation is important.
Boot-strap pulling only gets you so far.
Canada is the country my family choose to emigrate to, and I love it for that reason alone. I think Canada is the best country in the world. Not because it is perfect, or has gold stars for quality of life or universal health care or adult literacy--though I'm glad for those things, don't get me wrong--but because it is mine. Because it is ours. Because my mom moved here from California, and my dad moved here from Hong Kong, and they both chose Toronto to make their home.
This is our home, as much as it's yours. The fact that my cousins speak very little English does not mean they are less Canadian than you. The fact that you can trace your family back four hundred years does not make you more Canadian than me. (If you can trace your family back four thousand years, then yeah, okay--this land is arguably more yours than mine.)
I guess my whole point in writing this is to refute the notion that hyphenating means I'm less committed to being Canadian than someone who doesn't hyphenate. "Chinese-Canadian" doesn't make me less of a citizen. Canada belongs to all of us. All of us belong to Canada. Take a look at our passports. Take a look at our communities. These are the streets we walk and the schools we attend and the politicians we vote for (or abstain from voting for, as the case may be).
I'm grateful for my citizenship, by birth and by my parents' choice. For all our flaws as a nation, despite our failings, I'm proud to be Canadian. I'm glad to be Canadian. I think you are too.
To all of you, at home and abroad:
Happy Canada Day!
(Interestingly, I didn't wish anyone on LJ a Happy Canada Day from 2005-2007. I probably didn't think it was a big deal to mention it. To be honest, I don't generally celebrate Canada Day, unless it happens to fall on a weekend and my cousins decide it's a good excuse for a barbecue.)
I prefer comments on Dreamwidth |
comment(s)